It has become more and more common to ship small quantities of bottled wine, fruit juices, or the like through a postal service or through parcel shipping services. Previously, larger quantities of bottled wine or juice had been transported through conventional grocery and foodservice delivery chains, and the bottles or wine or juice are purchased locally by a person and taken home for consumption.
It has become desirable, however, for individuals to purchase bottled juice or wine from out of state companies and have the purchased bottles shipped to the customer. This provides greater selection to the customer and allows the customer to purchase bottles of juice or wine which are not available locally. Thus, a customer may purchase specific desired items which would be otherwise unavailable.
The direct purchasing and shipping of small quantities of bottles to the consumer has, however, caused some shipping problems. When a larger quantity of bottles is transported to a store, these may be transported together on a pallet. This generally ensures that the bottles are kept upright and are not dropped or otherwise subjected to undue forces. When bottles are delivered through a parcel service or the postal service, they are packaged in a box and the box may often be shipped in any orientation and may be dropped in transportation. As such, the packaging requirements for glass bottles requires that the bottles are not broken when the package is dropped from various heights or placed with a load on top of the package while vibrating the package for extended periods of time. The packaging must still provide sufficient protection to the bottles after the dropping and vibration tests in addition to surviving the tests without the bottles breaking. Many available shipping containers do not properly support a bottle and increase the likelihood that the bottle breaks during shipping.
In addition to meeting the shipping requirement, it is desirable that the packaging meet several other requirements, such as being quick and easy to use and being compact. A package, even if it meets the shipping requirements, is not very useful if it is time consuming to assemble and use. Many available shipping containers, such as 3-dimensional assemblies built from flat cardboard, require a significant amount of time to put together separate pieces and assemble the container. While these shipping containers may be inexpensive, the labor cost to use the containers adds significantly to the cost. Other available shipping containers, such as molded foam cradles, can not be made any smaller than the completed size of the package, and thus take up a very large amount of space. These containers are thus inconvenient to use as they overwhelm workstation and storage areas. Requiring a large amount of time for assembly and use, or requiring a large amount of space for storage before use increase the cost of a shipping container and make these undesirable shipping options.
Prior art storage and carrying containers typically have receptacles which engage the bottom of a bottle and the top of the bottle caps. Many of these containers, however, are unable to meet the rigorous drop and vibration tests for shipping via postal or parcel services. Prior art shipping containers are known which meet the testing requirements for shipping, but these are more expensive and less convenient to use.
One type of prior art containers is a three-dimensional assembly of flat cardboard pieces combined with a cardboard tube which engages the bottles and is placed inside of a box. This device, however, is difficult to assemble and requires a significant amount of worker time to use. Another type of prior art container has an expanded styrene ‘coffin’ with a lid which receives the bottle and entirely surrounds the bottle. This device is inconvenient to use because it does not nest, requiring its entire assembled volume to ship to a retailer or store, increasing the cost and inconvenience associated with the use of the device.
It is thus appreciated that, with the desirable attributes of a shipping container, prior art containers have fallen short in some measure. There is a need for a shipping container for glass bottles which securely holds and protects the bottle so as to withstand the rigors of shipping and the requirement of testing. There is a need for a shipping container which is also inexpensive, easy to use and does not require a large amount of space for storage.